The Swedish king on Monday described developments in the Swedish Academy, the body that decides the Nobel Prize in Literature, as “very sad” after three members said they would no longer participate in its work.
“This development is very sad, but I hope we can solve it somehow,” King Carl XVI Gustaf, who is patron of the academy, founded in 1786, told reporters.
Kjell Espmark, Klas Ostergren and Peter Englund announced Friday they were stepping aside in the wake of a failed vote to expel another member, poet Katarina Frostenson.
The academy has been under a cloud since November, when it hired a law firm to investigate sexual harassment allegations by 18 women against Frostenson’s husband.
He has denied the allegations.
Other complaints against the man have also emerged, including alleged financial wrongdoings linked to the funding of a cultural venue he ran until late last year.
The venue, called Forum, had received funds from the academy.
According to the law firm, Frostenson had not disclosed that she was the co-owner, violating conflict of interest rules. She is also suspected of leaking the names of Nobel laureates to her husband.
The law firm’s findings triggered the vote to expel Frostenson.
Eight members who opposed expelling Frostenson said the proof cited was “not strong enough,” they wrote in an open letter in the Svenska Dagbladet daily.
They noted that only one member has been expelled since 1786.
Academy members are appointed for life.
Meanwhile, the Economic Crime Authority, which investigates tax fraud and similar offences, was investigating a complaint filed at the weekend regarding a firm owned by Frostenson’s husband.
Details were confidential, a spokesman told dpa. (dpa/NAN)